page thirty six THE Waiting List River Book Reviews SAN JUAN RIVER GUIDE SAND ISLAND TO CLAY HILLS CROSSING f you boat the San Juan River in Southeastern Utah, you might want to pick up a copy of this Inew guidebook for your next trip, even if you already have one or more of the other guidebooks for the San Juan. I have a whole shelf full of guidebooks for various rivers, some of them pretty old and others fairly recent. Over the years, the quality and diversity of information in river guide books has generally improved. Now Lisa has captured the best ideas of the bunch, and incorporated them all into this fine guidebook which, overall, sets the bar a bit higher for anyone who want to write a great guidebook for a popular river. Anyone who has a few is towards the top of the page, an weathered and worn guidebooks arrangement that seems both natural won’t find any features they and (now that I’ve seen it) obvious. haven’t seen somewhere before. In addition to mileages, rapids, and But I can’t think of any other river topographic contours, features men- guide that shows as much atten- tioned in the text are keyed with ref- tion to detail; this is a beautiful, erences to the page numbers where as well as informative, book. you can read about them. There are six major sec- Another interesting feature is tions, as follows: San Juan River the amount of current and timely Overview...including river charac- information that goes beyond what teristics, weather, and threats to you would normally expect to find the S.J. Logistics and in a river guidebook. There are con- Safety...including access points, cise, but clear, sections on such top- permits, river safety, and river eti- ics as permits, the Animas-La Plata quette, Human History...prehis- Project, silt accumulation on the toric and historic Indian cultures, lower end, river safety and etiquette, Mormons, miners, river runners and the preservation of archaeologi- Geology...well illustrated sections cal resources. on the River, the Landscape, and It’s spiral bound, printed on the rocks, written by guide and waterproof paper, and sized to fit geologist Wayne Ranney: inform- into your ammo-box. ative, but written for the non-sci- If you forget to get a copy entist Biology...including biologi- before heading off to the river, you cal changes, and a brief but excel- might be able to find one at lent guide to plants and animals Recapture Lodge in Bluff; but I’d recommend getting and a River Map. one now, so you have time to read through it before you There’s a few things about Lisa’s book that make it real- get to the boat-ramp. You’ll be glad you have a copy on ly special: first of all, the quality of the illustrations. From the your next trip down the Juan. spectacular color photo on the cover (Chris Brown), to the reviewed by Drifter Smith exceptionally clear river map at the end, this is a book with looks to match the scenery. There’s also some fine historic pho- tos, aerial photography by Michael Collier, and a pair of match- by Lisa Kearsley ing photos taken 70 years apart, showing vegetation changes at Waterproof Edition, 2002 ($17.95 + $2 shipping from the mouth of Chinle Creek, courtesy of Bob Webb. The draw- Shiva Press) Published by Shiva Press ings illustrating pottery types, rock art styles, plants, animals, 5557 White Horse Drive and geology are simple, clear, and informative. And the river Flagstaff, AZ 86004 map starts at the end of the book, so the downstream direction www.shivapress.com Winter 2002 / 2003 page thirty seven Hell or High Water: James White’s Disputed Passage Through Grand Canyon 1867 by Eilean Adams, 2001, Logan Utah, Utah State University Press— reviewed by Drifter Smith hile you’d have to look far and wide to find an American who’s never heard of John Wesley WPowell, the name of James White is not likely to be recognized except perhaps by a relatively small number of river runners with an interest in the history of, and controversies about, the exploration of the Colorado River. However, in 1868 - the year before Powell launched his first river expedition at Green River Wyoming - the situation regarding their relative name recognition was reversed. Powell was an unknown college professor from Illinois, a disabled vet- eran of the Civil War with a compulsion to explore the still little known territory of the inter-mountain west in the company of occasional students and various mountain men he hired as guides to show him the sights. In contrast, James White was a bit of a celebrity, perhaps even a folk hero, the Most subsequent Adams’ account begins with a sixth topic of numerous conversations, and river runners grade history test question more than 60 the subject of newspaper articles, and agreed with Powell: years ago: “Who was the first white man to scientific reports. Attacked by Indians go through the Grand Canyon?” Her answer, while prospecting, he fled deeper into White’s alleged trip “James White,” rather than the expected unknown canyon country until he was impossible, “John Wesley Powell,” was marked incorrect. encountered a large river. Hastily con- so he was either Her teacher was not amused when she insist- structing a primitive raft from a couple ed that White - her grandfather - had been logs, he and a companion escaped down confused, through the Grand Canyon in 1867, two the river. A few days later, his compan- a liar, or both. years before Powell. ion drowned. On September 7, 1867, Eilean Adams never met her grandfather, White was pulled out of the Colorado River at Callville, and for years what she knew about him (and the controversy Nevada, which now lies under Lake Mead a few miles east of surrounding his adventure) was based on family stories and a Las Vegas. Entirely by accident, he had apparently floated copy of a slim volume by Thomas Dawson that had been from somewhere north of the San Juan River through the published by the United States Senate back in 1917. In 1959, Grand Canyon, and washed out the lower end, still (barely) however, river historian Dock Marston wrote to her mother alive enough to tell the tale. as part of his research into the James White story, which Over the course of the next century and a third, sparked her interest in finding out more, maybe even writing Powell’s reputation has waxed while White’s has waned. something about it eventually. As it turned out, Marston was Before Powell’s expedition, White’s story was widely publi- mainly interested in finding evidence to discredit White and cized and generally believed. But in August of 1869, viewing his tale. Hance Rapid at low water, Powell and his men no longer A decade later, she was contacted by Bob Euler, who thought there was any truth to White’s tale. Powell publicly was also interested in the story. Euler - unlike Marston and denounced White’s trip as a fiction within a few days of most earlier commentators - was curious enough to wonder getting off the river, believing that he (and no one else) what sense could be made of White’s story. Could White have deserved the credit for conquering the Colorado. Most sub- really have done what he said he did? sequent river runners agreed with Powell: White’s alleged Euler gathered the details of White’s account - mostly trip was impossible, so he was either confused, a liar, or written down by others, as White was essentially illiterate - both. In any event, there’s no way he could have survived a and tried to match them with the landscape, in the hope that trip down the Colorado, without supplies, on a raft made he could make sense of the handful of information that out of a couple cottonwood logs. White remembered from an adventure he barely survived, In Hell or High Water Eilean Adams tells several now a hundred years in the past. Eventually he came up with interwoven stories that revolve around the strange story of a theory about where White started down the river that seems James White, his moment of fame, and eventual descent to fit; but then Euler lost interest in the project. into relative obscurity. While I doubt Hell or High Water will In the end, Adams realized that if anyone was going be the last word on White and his adventure, it will be to hear about her grandfather and his adventure, she’d have to essential reading on the subject for years to come. tell the story herself. And it’s a good thing she did, as one of page thirty eight THE Waiting List the most interesting threads in this narrative has to do with he couldn’t even stand up. In A River Running West Donald how her grandfather was treated by earlier investigators - Wooster sums it up nicely: “If (White’s trip) seems improba- Stanton, in particular - who had their own agenda of estab- ble, all other explanations are more improbable still.” lishing that White could not have been the first through the So what, one might ask. Who cares? After all, it was Grand Canyon. Nobody else could have told that part of the Powell who first ran the river intentionally, and made scien- story. tific observations; later he went on to map the surrounding Intermixed with the personal story of the quest to canyon country, started the Bureau of Ethnology, and for find out about her grandfather and his encounter with histo- years was Director of the Geologic Survey. White dropped ry (and historians), Adams has included the texts of the vari- pretty much out of sight in Trinidad, Colorado and his early ous accounts of White’s story, published over a century ago. publicity notwithstanding, he ended up in relative obscurity. Aside from a letter that White wrote to his brother (obvious- One consequence of White’s “disputed passage ly with some difficulty), the accounts were written by people through the Grand Canyon” in 1867 is that the publicity who interviewed White and then wrote up his story for pub- about his adventure must have been a factor in Powell’s deci- lication. Overall, there’s not a lot of details about White’s sion to explore the Green and Colorado Rivers by boat. trip or what he saw. Considering that he was barely alive at In later years, Powell said that exploring the river the end of his adventure, this isn’t very surprising. was his idea; Jack Sumner claimed it was his. Neither both- But the few details are enough to make one wonder. ered to mention the widely published conclusion of Dr. For example, he described “a stream of water about as large Parry - who wrote up White’s story - as my body that was running through the solid rocks of the “The absence of any distinct cataract, or perpendi- canyon about 75 feet above my head, and the clinging moss cular falls, would seem to warrant the conclusion that in to the rocks made a beautiful sight. The beauty of it can not time of high water, by proper appliances in the way of boats, be described.” Vasey’s Paradise? Deer Creek Falls? ... or one good, resolute oarsmen, and provisions secured in water- good guess in the middle of a pack of lies? proof bags the same passage might be safely made, and the White also mentioned getting stuck for hours in an actual course of the river with its peculiar geological features eddy at - or near - the mouth of the Little Colorado. Eilean properly determined” (Transactions of the St. Louis Adams doesn’t make anything of this detail (she’s never been Academy of Natural Science, 1868). down the canyon), but other river runners who have been About the time White’s story first appeared in the there when the Little Colorado was in flood stage relative to papers, Powell was talking about an exploring trip by boat the mainstream have described the spot as an enormous down the Green River. Others had already ventured down whirlpool...coincidence, or another lucky lie, or first hand the Green, but they were fur trappers, not scientists. As a observation? young man, Powell had boated a lot on the Mississippi and Numerous rapids, hours spent in eddies, getting it’s tributaries. A scientific exploring expedition down the washed off the raft several times a day, a companion who Green made sense, and - judging from Dr. Parry’s conclu- drowned when he got separated from the raft...it seems to sions - extending it through the “Great Unknown” did too. me these are details that are more likely the impressions of White was mentioned in the journals kept by both someone who washed through the canyon by accident, Jack Sumner and George Bradley on the first Powell trip. rather than a mess of imaginative lies. In any event, nobody General Palmer mentioned (in a letter to his fiancee) that is questioning the fact that White was pulled out of the White said Powell had tried to contact him and invite him Colorado below Grand Canyon, starved, sunburnt, unable along on his exploring expedition, but that they’d failed to to stand up, barely alive - all in all, pretty much in the con- meet. In any event, Powell certainly knew about White’s dition you would expect if his story about floating through alleged trip, and took it to be a sign that a well planned and the big canyon was true. equipped expedition would be likely to meet with success. In trying to maintain his position as the second Did White beat Powell through the Grand Canyon? explorer of the Colorado River, Robert Brewster Stanton You’ll have to read Hell or High Water and draw your own argued that White had hiked overland from the San Juan - conclusions. several hundred miles across uncharted desert and plateau Much as I liked this book, I have a couple minor country - then managed to forget that experience while he complaints: (1) I found myself wishing it was longer, and floated something like 60 miles down the river from some- (2) I wish there was an index. Neither should stop you from where below Grand Wash Cliffs. That’s a hell of a hike, fol- getting a copy and enjoying it ... lowed by a pretty trivial float trip: if this were true, White would have still been tough as nails by the time he got to Drifter Smith Callville. But the folks who pulled him out of the river said y Winter 2002 / 2003 page thirty nine Hot Off the Internet ~ How Hot I s H o t ? ob wrote—The hottest day I've ever seen in Canyon country was several years ago when it hit B122 degrees in Phoenix. The floor of the GC is at a slightly higher elevation than Phoenix and I wouldn't expect in the shade temperatures to go above 120. They should be more like 115 degrees maximum most years (anyone have any data on this?). Now I'm not saying that is a bit too hot but I'm not certain anyone could even survive 130 degrees in the shade. That's Death Valley hot (below sea level). They say you can fry eggs on the pavement in Phoenix in the summer although I've never tried it. One has to be quick on your feet in that summer mid-day sand on a Grand Canyon trip or on the Phoenix streets then.

TOO HOT FOR TEQUILA Ricard o responded—On that day you are referring to Bob, when it was 122 in Phoenix and the airport had to close, I had the unfortunate experience of having to select 8 quarter pine timbers from a stack, outside, in the full sun on the tarmac at Southwest Hardwoods. to add to the fun experience was the big brown boxcar parked right next to us. We moved quickly. When we returned to Jerome with the goods, the temperature there had topped 112, 4,000 feet higher in elevation than Phoenix. Speaking of moving quickly and more canyon specific, a number of years back I heard the temperature along the river near Kingman had reached 130. Sometimes I bring a very small radio on trips for my personal use (not a blaster) and I heard an Arizona weather broadcast confirming that temp. We were at Whitmore that afternoon, wistfully remembering the cooling waves over the bow in Lava Falls. I would suggest Whitmore to be one of the canyon "hot spots"—with it's long exposure to the afternoon sun. Everyone was just dogging about, there's little shade there. People just sitting in the water, blasting each other with squirt guns, tongues hanging out, too hot for celebratory tequila, or to even talk much. Just below the first big beach, there's a small riffle. Some of us turned to look at the riffle just as a very low flying eagle flew up river towards us. That eagle fellow apparently spied the boiling humans lining the beach and decided to join us. Enough is enough. He flew right into the middle of the group and sat down on the beach, where upon he sat until the sun had dropped a bit—remaining with us for about 15 minutes. Wonder. Silence. What is this all about? Could it be that we creatures shared a commonality of emotion— "it's too hot"? Or could it be that it was so hot, that like the airplanes on that hot Phoenix day the eagle found himself grounded due to lack of lift (hot air is thinner and there is less lift)? Did the eagle chose the path above the river because it was cooler, giving him a bit more lift without the effort of moving it's wings on a hot afternoon? Forget fishing—chill out big bird. When the eagles visit was about to end, he walked the beach amongst the amazed spectators and then lifted off, flying low towards the cliffs on river left. After sun down, we 16 spent the evening enjoying the tequila, and speculating on our good fortune to have had an afternoon with the eagle, and wondering about our place on this earth. Some like it hot. NOT TOO HOT FOR BEER Drifter commented—115 is a more typical temperature for a hot day in the Grand Canyon, but that doesn't mean higher temperatures are never encountered. Last I heard the official record temperature at Phantom was in the low to mid 120s...but then it's relatively cool at Phantom compared to other places with less vegetation and running water. I have a thermometer with a scale that ends at 165 degrees F. I've tried to measure the surface temperatures of stuff in the sun on my rig - black bags, aluminum rowing frame, etc - but on a hot day they're off the top end of the scale. Sand temperatures in the sun can easily get up around 135-140, way past barefoot walking and a bit much for the feet even with decent hiking boots. If Ricardo says it got too hot for tequila, I believe him. But I've never seen it too hot for beer... from [email protected] y page forty THE Waiting List Grand Canyon: American Whitewater’s Survey Analysis

merican Whitewater collected responses to it’s non-scientific online survey between July 9 and AAugust 8, 2002 at www.American Whitewater.org. The purpose in conducting the survey was to gauge the pulse of our members and the boating public on several issues related to river man- agement in the Grand Canyon. The respondents were self-selecting and elected to go to American Whitewater’s website after receiving email notification of the surveys availability. 872 people com- pleted the survey; 15 of these responses were incomplete and were discarded. 352 of the respon- dents were American Whitewater members (5% of membership). 175 respondents were Grand Other choices in decreasing preference are: Fax Canyon Private Boater Association (GCPBA— Phone an AW affiliated organization) members. The Mail or Operator Park Service did not assist with this survey. In Person. However, American Whitewater will share the Respondents would prefer a reservation registration system. results of our survey with the Park along with This is followed closely by a Weighted Lottery, then Lottery, the comments that we received. and Wait List. There was very little interest in a First-Come First-Serve sys- SUMMARY OF AMERICAN WHITEWATER tem. MEMBERSHIP RESPONSES 79% were interested in a hybrid system that provided two VISITS avenues for applying for permits. 55% of respondents have floated down the Grand Canyon. 62% felt that a 2-3 year wait was reasonable, 26% selected 1 Average date of last trip was 1997, median was 1999. year or less, 10% more than 3. Of those respondents who have been down: 72% felt that they should be able to launch 1 year or less 12% have been on motorized raft trips. after receiving their permit. 52% have been on non-motorized raft trips. MOTORS 63% have been in kayaks with raft support. 27% have been on commercial trips. 87% believe that motors diminish the wilderness character of the river. WAIT LIST 72% believe that motors diminish the paddling experience. 97% do not find the Wait List acceptable and 96% want a new permit system. 58% would agree to future use of cleaner, quieter motors, 38% would not. 36% have been registered on the Wait List. 70% would compromise on motors in a way that also pro- 41% plan to get on the GCNP Wait List in the future. tects the “wilderness quality experience,” 27% would not. An additional 36% would get on the List if it was shorter. 79% would compromise on motors if the number of private The primary reason 80% of respondents have not registered launches increases, 17% would not. on the List is its length. SUMMARY OF ALL RESPONSES The secondary reason 42% is that the $100 registration fee is too high. VISITS Respondents would prefer to register for private permits via 56% of respondents have floated down Colorado River in the web. the Grand Canyon. Their secondary choice is via email. Average date of last trip was 1998, median was 1998.